Self-service system

ABSTRACT

An automated teller machine ( 10 ) or a home banking system ( 32 ) is operated to provide, during the delays associated with authorizing and acting upon a user instruction, a sales presentation related to a financial product. The type of presentation is selected by matching a profile of the user, obtained from a central information store ( 20 ), with profiles of target customers for a number of financial products.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.08/787,415, filed Jan. 22, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,246.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a financial self service system havingterminals such as automated teller machines (ATMs) which permitwithdrawal of cash, balance inquiry etc. or home banking terminals bywhich financial transactions and inquiries can be initiated from auser's home or office.

During the operation of an ATM or home banking terminal there are shortintervals of time during which the machine is, for example, checkingthat a PIN (Personal Identification Number) just entered by a user isacceptable, or that the account holder requesting a cash withdrawal ortransfer has sufficient funds to cover the amount, or (in the case of anATM) is counting notes for presentation to the user. During theseintervals, which in this specification will be referred to asopportunity intervals, it is known for an ATM to display a short messagesuch as “please wait while your transaction is processed”.

In European Patent Application No. 0 645 744 there is disclosed by thepresent applicant an ATM which operates in a predictive manner, in thatwhen user enters their card, the machine identifies the user, predictsthe transaction most likely to be requested by that user, and presentsone or more relevant messages, such as “Do you require £20?” or “Do yourequire a mini statement?”, in accordance with that user's habitualtransaction request or requests.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a self-service device havingimproved facilities during opportunity intervals as hereinbeforedefined.

According to the invention there is provided a method of operating afinancial self-service system comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for a financial transaction initiated from aself-service terminal by a user;

authorizing said request;

and acting upon said request;

characterized by extracting a profile of said user from central userinformation storage means;

searching for a match between said profile of said user and a targetcustomer profile stored in financial product profile storage means; and

if such a match is found, presenting to the user on said self-serviceterminal a sales presentation related to said financial product duringat least one opportunity interval while authorizing and acting upon saidrequest.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described by way of example, only withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an ATM system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an arrangement for sensing the length of a queue atan ATM;

FIG. 3 illustrates discrimination between a queue of potential users andpassers by; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a home banking system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1 an ATM 10 has a conventional display screen 12 and input means14, such as a key pad and/or touch screen. The ATM 10 is connected to asales presentation storage means, indicated schematically at 16, capableof storing video/graphics information, such as a compact disc. As iswell known, the ATM is connected to a central host computer system 18running a customer information file 20. A product profile storage means24 in the form of a database system is connected to a relationshipmanagement system 22, which is connected to both the customerinformation file 20 and the host computer system 18.

The sales presentation storage means contains static or moving visualdisplays, or audio-visual displays relating to a number of financialproducts or services available from the system operator, arranged inrelatively short sections suitable for presentation during opportunityintervals as hereinbefore defined.

The product profile storage means 24 contains information which providesa profile of each type of sales presentation stored in the salespresentation storage means 16, and of the profiles of customers likelyto be interested in the related financial product or financial service(hereinafter referred to as “a product”. The relationship managementsystem 22 is alerted by the host system 18 to a sales opportunity, i.e.a card inserted in the ATM 10 with a conventional transactioninstruction, and requests from the customer information file 20 thedetails of that cardholder; the management system 22 then attempts tomatch the customer's profile to one or more product profiles, forexample while the ATM is awaiting authorization of the transaction bythe host system, and passes an instruction through the host system 18 tothe ATM 10, allowing it to utilize the sales presentation storage means16 in order to provide the appropriate display during one or moreopportunity intervals of the ATM transaction.

The profiles of the products and of users may be based on informationsuch as account profiles and demographic information, allowing a bestmatch between the product displayed and the user, to give the highestpossibility of making a sale. The match may be based on a record ofactual sales of the product to other customers with similaraccount/demographic profiles, or on a theoretically-determined match,which would be especially useful for early sales of a product. The matchwill be made while a user is keying in a PIN, and selecting a requiredtransaction.

The relationship management system 22 uses known techniques of databasemining or expert systems or artificial intelligence to identify areas ofcommonality between a user and a product.

In the simplest implementation of the invention, a user inserts a cardand PIN into the input means 14 and selects a required transaction; theATM is arranged to provide a message on the display screen 12 indicatingthat the transaction is being processed, and also calls up from thesales presentation storage means 16 an initial “hook” screen, whichprovides brief details of a product or service that the financialinstitution controlling the ATM 10 wishes to sell. The product may bethe most recently announced, or most profitable, or popular, product.The presentation will usually be provided while the ATM is counting cashor printing a statement.

In a variation, a user is given the option, by pressing the appropriatekey on the input means 14, of asking for more information about theproduct, either by a further display on the display means 12, or onpaper sent by post to the user's home. In the latter case, the user'saddress may be displayed for confirmation or correction by the user byappropriate key entry. All such interactions are under the control ofthe ATM's processor.

An example of more information to be provided would be if a loanapplication had been advertised and a user indicated interest in it; therepayment schedules on various loan amounts repayable over various timeperiods could be displayed.

The duration of the opportunity for a display during a conventional ATMtransaction is not great, and complex products may require a substantialtime to explain to a user. However, there may be a queue waiting to usethe ATM, in which case it is highly preferable if short displays areselected from the sales presentation storage means 16.

The simplest indication of a queue is the rate of insertion of usercards; in a variation of the system the processor of the ATM 10 isprogrammed to detect the intervals between card insertions; if theintervals indicate insertion of another card immediately after atransaction is completed, then either short displays will be selected,or no display will be given.

In some transactions, a user inserts the same card twice; for example,if cash is withdrawn, the user may reinsert his or her card to requestan up-to-the minute balance figure which takes account of thewithdrawal. The ATM processor will also be programmed to sense that theprevious card has been presented again, thus overriding the timinginformation, and also preventing a re-run of a previous salespresentation to the same user.

If a substantial interval occurs between card insertions, it can beinferred that there is no queue and the processor will then permit adisplay, or a display of a longer duration, to the next user.

An alternative queue sensing arrangement is shown in FIG. 2. Adjacent toATM 10, which is connected as illustrated in FIG. 1, there is a thermalimaging sensor 26 arranged to sense the presence of a queue of people A,B, C. The sensor 26 is connected to the ATM 10 by a secure wire 28, andprovides signals indicating the presence or absence of a queue so thatthe processor of the ATM 10 can arrange for a long or a short salespresentation on the display means or no presentation, as appropriate.

The thermal sensor 26 is arranged to sense the body heat of the peopleA, B, C and, as illustrated in FIG. 3, is arranged to differentiatebetween the body heat of the static people A, B, C in the queue and themoving body heat of a passer-by D. Such differentiation is achieved bythe comparison of detected heat signatures with stored heat signatures,by known techniques.

It is an advantage of the use of a thermal sensor 26 that it can operateafter dark as well as in daylight.

Alternatives to a thermal sensor are sensors utilizing radiation atvisible wave lengths, scanning ultrasound, or low power radar; in eachcase the radiation reflected by a person in a queue, or by a passer-by,is sensed.

If no queue is sensed by sensor 26 at the start of a sales presentation,or if there has been a substantial delay since a previous cardinsertion, the system is arranged to permit an extensive presentation;if however the sensor 26 senses a queue build-up during thepresentation, the system is arranged to bring the presentation to anearly, but acceptable, conclusion.

Wherever a sales presentation is given, the system may be arranged toprovide a final display screen in summary form, and to give the user theoption of an immediate print-out of that screen, or of providing it bypost. These options are presented by touch-screen or other keys on theinput 14.

If there are two or more ATMs at a single site, the queue sensing means26 will be programmed accordingly, or a second sensor etc. will beprovided.

In all arrangements, the user will be provided with an option,selectable by key pad or touch screen, to terminate a sales presentationat any time.

In all variations, the ATM with adaptive sales presentation facilitiesaccording to the invention will be arranged to balance a high rate oftransaction throughput against the opportunity of sales presentationdisplays.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the invention in a home banking system.The host computer system 18, customer information file 20, relationshipmanagement system 22 and product profile storage system 24 are arrangedas in FIG. 1.

A sales presentation storage means 30 is now provided centrally (as ofcourse it could be in a small variation of the FIG. 1 embodiment) and isconnected to the relationship management system 22, or alternatively tothe host computer system 18.

The user terminal comprises a home banking terminal 32 having a displayscreen 34 and an input means 36 such as a keyboard. The terminal may bebased on a personal computer, or on a terminal as described in theapplicant's copending UK patent application No. 9610645.5 filed on May21, 1996.

The terminal 32 is connected through a modem 38 to the PSTN (publicswitched telephone network) 40 to a further modem 42 connected to thehost computer system 18.

The matching of a user profile with a product profile is carried out inthe same way as in the FIG. 1 embodiment, and the relationshipmanagement system 22 calls up the selected sales presentation fromstorage means 30 and routes it through the host system 18, modem 42,PSTN 40, and modem 38 to the home banking terminal 32.

In the more relaxed environment of a terminal used in the home oroffice, it may be possible to display longer sales presentations.However, the user of the home banking terminal will always be presentedwith the option of terminating a display.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating an unattended self-serviceterminal for allowing a self-service customer to carry out aself-service transaction, the method comprising the steps of: (a)identifying the self-service customer; (b) sensing a queue of potentialself-service customers adjacent to the self-service terminal andproviding a signal indicative thereof; and (c) selecting one of aplurality of stored sales presentations based upon the identity of theself-service customer and the signal to display the selected salespresentation to provide sales information to be viewed by theself-service customer.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein step(b) includes the step of: (b-1) detecting radiation reflected by a humanbeing adjacent to the self-service terminal.
 3. A method according toclaim 1, wherein step (b) includes the step of: (b-1) detecting infraredradiation emitted by a human being adjacent to the self-serviceterminal.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) includesthe step of: (b-1) distinguishing between stationary human beings andpassers-by relative to the self-service terminal.
 5. A method ofoperating an automated teller machine (ATM) for allowing an ATM customerto carry out a self-service financial transaction, the method comprisingthe steps of: (a) receiving customer identifying information from theATM customer; (b) determining identity of the ATM customer based uponthe customer identifying information received from the ATM customer; (c)counting currency to be dispensed to the ATM customer; (d) sensing aqueue of ATM customers adjacent to the ATM and providing a signalindicative thereof; (e) selecting one of a plurality of stored salespresentations based upon identity of the ATM customer and the signal;and (f) displaying the selected sales presentation to provide salesinformation to be viewed by the ATM customer while currency is beingcounted to be dispensed to the ATM customer during the self-servicefinancial transaction.
 6. A method according to claim 5, wherein step(b) includes the step of: (b-1) detecting radiation reflected by a humanbeing adjacent to the ATM.
 7. A method according to claim 5, whereinstep (b) includes the step of (b-1) detecting infrared radiation emittedby a human being adjacent to the ATM.
 8. A method according to claim 5,wherein step (b) includes the step of: (b-1) distinguishing betweenstationary human beings and passers-by relative to the ATM.
 9. A methodof operating a teller machine (ATM) for allowing an ATM customer tocarry out a self-service financial transaction, the method comprisingthe steps of: (a) receiving customer identifying information from theATM customer; (b) determining identity of the ATM customer based uponthe customer identifying information received from the ATM customer; (c)printing a receipt containing information relating to the self-servicefinancial transaction to be delivered to the ATM customer after theself-service financial transaction has been carried out; (d) sensing aqueue of ATM customers adjacent to the ATM and providing a signalindicative thereof; (e) selecting one of a plurality of stored salespresentations based upon identity of the ATM customer and the signal;and (f) displaying the selected sales presentation to provide salesinformation to be viewed by the ATM customer while the receipt is beingprinted to be delivered to the ATM customer.
 10. A method according toclaim 9, wherein step (b) includes the step of: (b-1) detectingradiation reflected by a human being adjacent to the ATM.
 11. A methodaccording to claim 9, wherein step (b) includes the step of; (b-1)detecting infrared radiation emitted by a human being adjacent to theATM.
 12. A method according to claim 9, wherein step (b) includes thestep of; (b-1) distinguishing between stationary human beings andpassers-by relative to the ATM.
 13. A method of operating an unattendedself-service terminal, the method comprising the steps of: (a) receivingat a first time a user card from a first self-service customer to allowthe first self-service customer to carry out a self-service transactionat the self-service terminal; (b) receiving at a second time which isafter the first time a user card from a second self-service customer whois different from the first self-service customer to allow the secondself-service customer to carry out a self-service transaction at theself-service terminal; (c) selecting one of a plurality of stored salespresentations based upon the time interval between the first time atwhich the user card was received from the first self-service customerand the second time at which the user card was received from the secondself-service customer; and (d) displaying the selected salespresentation to provide sales information to be viewed by the secondself-service customer.
 14. An unattended self-service terminalcomprising: means for receiving at a first time a user card from a firstself-service customer to allow the first self-service customer to carryout a self-service transaction at the self-service terminal; means forreceiving at a second time which is after the first time a user cardfrom a second self-service customer who is different from the firstself-service customer to allow the second self-service customer to carryout a self-service transaction at the self-service terminal; means forselecting one of a plurality of stored sales presentations based uponthe time interval between the first time at which the user card wasreceived from the first self-service customer and the second time atwhich the user card was received from the second self-service customer;and means for displaying the selected sales presentation to providesales information to be viewed by the second self-service customer.